Love Stories

[PeachieKeen]

Thought this might be a fun way to reminisce and get to know everyone better. Share some of your love stories, for example:
1. When/how did you meet your Spouse?
2. When/how did you know you wanted to date?
3. Who initiated dating and how?
4. When did you know you loved your Spouse?
5. When did you first say I love you?
6. When did you decide on marriage?
7. Who proposed and how?
8. What was your wedding day like?

Feel free to tell stories not on my list too!

 

[PeachieKeen]

1. When/how did you meet your Spouse?
We met his first day of work in NYC. He was getting the office tour and we were briefly introduced. He said he immediately thought I was cute but figured I worked for the client. I thought he was really shy and didn't really think we would be friends.

He worked on a different floor and was quite reserved so I didn't see much of him and really forgot about him. It wasn't until one day I was coming back from a little trip and went to a brunch with friends that we were both invited to that I really ever interacted with him. He was still really quiet and stand offish. I then decided to make it a personal challenge to become his friend and get him incorporated into the group.

I proceeded to invite him to lunch with my group of coworker friends everyday. He was very business minded so I convinced him it was networking. After a few lunches he came out of his shell and we became friends.

 

[PeachieKeen]

2. When/how did you know you wanted to date?
One day a new girl started work at the office. Alex (now husband) and I were about to go to lunch and I said I wanted to introduce him to the new girl first, but as a joke i was going to say his name was Steve. He tried to object but i was already on the move. I introduced her to my friend Steve and invited her to lunch. While we all kept chatting he said "by the way, my name is not Steve... It's Alex." Without missing a beat I go, "stop messing with the new girl, Steve."

TLDR- The joke blew up and everybody in the office, and even people on other sites in our company started exclusively calling him Steve. To Alex's annoyance, even our boss called him Steve.

Months later I was going through some really awful stuff... In a very dark place. I was in a terrible relationship and was extremely depressed. Alex was the most amazing friend to me. We talked about everything, he supported me and tried always to make me smile. I found myself thinking what I had was so unhealthy and I wanted a boyfriend more like my friend Steve.

We were going for a run around the city one day and crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and I saw the most beautiful double rainbow. In my heart it felt like a promise of hope and I became overwhelmed. I called out for Alex and gave him a hug with no reason why. He pushed me off and said he was really sweaty and gross and kept running. I realized I had called him Alex... And in my heart he wasnt just my friend Steve anymore.

 

[PeachieKeen]

3. Who initiated dating and how?

You ask two different people and you would get two different answers. According to Alex he gave me the moves all the time.. Great moves such as "sitting closer than usual while we played Amnesia," being nicer to me than anyone else and telling me in tears after having a bit too much to drink one night "you really are the (poop)... But don't let it get to your head." One thing was for sure, through our whole friendship he was talking to our mutual friend about how much he liked me and was being told not to to for it because it would make things weird when i said no.

Once I decided I wanted to date Alex my moves were more forward. I asked him to go on a double date with our mutual friend and his girlfriend. I showed up dressed to the nines in this sexy black dress and sky high heels. He showed up in dirty jeans and a t-shirt... I spent the rest of the night trying to play down my obvious date night look.

Both of us agree, it finally came to a head on August 13th. We were having a movie night and i came early to hang out. We watched some embarrasing childhood videos of his and it was very flirtatious. Our other friends came and we watched the movie.. The whole time I nervously anticipated what may come next.

The movie ends and Alex says "everybody out. We have work tomorrow." My heart sunk. I was wrong again... I thought there were sparks and he would ask me to stay a while.

Our mutual friend and I were walking to the subway and I told him in annoyance that i was not ready to go home and go to bed. We were discussing maybe going to karaoke when i got a text from Alex.

"Do you want to come back and hang out for a bit?"

My heart lept in my chest. I gave my friend a sneaky smile and said i had to go and ran off. He yelled after me "oh my gosh, what is happening????"

I got back to Alex's place and we decided to watch Lost. As we watched the show our hands crept closer to one another until we were holding hands. We stared at the screen but our minds were far away.

The episode ended. I told him it was late and I should go home. He asked to see me tomorrow and I said yes. He leaned over to kiss me but got nervous and burst into laughter halfway. I smiled and pulled him the rest of the way.

I'm pretty sure I floated home after that perfect kiss.

 

[Saricharity]

I feel like I'm lost in a romance book, Peachy. Keep sharing lol

 

[Saricharity]

1. When/how did you meet your Spouse?

I was fifteen and his family was new to our church. I found out through the grapevine that Justin and his sister were homeschooled so my friend dared me to ask him about it. We were sitting in Youth group and my friend pointed him out to me. I almost stopped breathing. He was so cute! Tall, dark and handsome described him perfectly. I was so nervous, I couldn't ask him anything so my friend blurted out that the pastor's kids were all homeschooled. I blushed when he looked at me but he didn't say anything.
Later on, when our group went to play volleyball in the gym, he tossed the ball to me and asked me to serve on his team. I literally forgot how to play the sport. I was so embarrassed but he was so sweet giving me tips and showing me what to do. He was so kind. He told me that he understood that homeschoolers sometimes didn't get the opportunity to play organized sports and that he had convinced his parents to let him go to grade 12 the next year so he could play some sports. Another one of my friends laughed saying that I was pulling his leg and that I was on the volleyball team in town. He looked so confused and I STILL couldn't find my tongue. I must have looked every inch a dumb blonde.
So later that night when I was literally moping in my dad's office...depressed at acting so stupid, he came in to ask if he had left his phone behind. I unlocked the gym for him to look in the men's locker room. He was so kind and sweet. I finally found my tongue and we spent about an hour talking about all kinds of things.
I guess the rest is history. We became fast friends. He really became my best friend.

 

[Saricharity]

2. When/how did you know you wanted to date?
3. Who initiated dating and how?

I wasn't allowed to date. My parents have always believed in courtship. My brother courted his wife and they married. Justin's family had no problem with dating. Different perspectives.
Justin asked my dad if we could date and my dad said a very firm no.
I am sad to say that was one of the reasons why I rebelled against my parents. (I may or may not have been a rotten teenager haha)

 

[PeachieKeen]

4. When did you know you loved your Spouse?

It's really hard to say for this one. I had never told anyone I loved them before Alex and I was determined to only ever say it once. For that reason I denied myself for as long as I could and blamed everything else on good feelings from a new relationship.

However, if I reflect honestly I knew a week and a half after we started dating.

He had gone out of town for a few days and I couldn't stop thinking about him. It was so unlike me. I'm a fiercely independent girl who had prided myself on always "guarding my heart" in relationships and never falling headfirst. Still, somehow now I found every song made me think of him, every moment I was having to force myself to not text him and see how he was doing.

I went out with some friends the day he was supposed to get back and my mind was far away. The mutual friend who had been with me that night we started dating was there and he noticed. He pulled me aside and said I needed to tell him what was going on.

We had kept our relationship secret up to that point because we were coworkers, but after some prodding I swore him to secrecy and told him Alex and I were dating. He hugged me and said he was so glad he didn't have to keep secrets anymore. He confessed Alex had been confiding in him for months about how much he cared for me. At that moment I got a text from Alex telling me he couldn't stop thinking about me. He said his grandmother had always joked that if you needed your tea sweetened she would just stick her pinky in and her sweetness would rub off. He said he knew it was cheesy but that kept popping into his head when he thought about me. I found that so... Well.. Sweet.

That night when he got back he decided to see me and we would share a bottle of wine on the roof. I told him it was funny he mentioned the quote reminding him of me because i heard a song that reminded me of him. I pulled it up on my phone and it began to play. I don't remember the song, but it said the word love in the lyrics and I froze. My face turned beet red and i thought to myself "he's going to know now."

I think my fear of him knowing my secret love is a pretty good indication that I had begun to love him.

 

[Saricharity]

4. When did you know you loved your Spouse?
5. When did you first say I love you?

Would you believe it was love at first sight? Crush at first sight? I guess I felt like I loved him right away. He was one of the kindest boys I had ever met. He was genuine and a deep thinker. For only being 16 when I met him, he was serious about his walk with Christ and he had a plan for his life. My parents couldn't help but respect him as well because even when I was rebelling against them, Justin always was respectful to my parents. He never encouraged me to rebel. I did that all on my own.
Justin told me he loved me first. I was knee-deep into some pretty emotional stuff with my dad, and I was really hurting. He told me he loved me and knew that I had it in me to make the right decisions. I was angry with him because I wanted him to take my side and not always stick up for my parents. He always insisted that I respect my parents, particularly my dad, even when things were very bleak. He said he wasn't taking sides and that he was on God's side. It was hard to swallow sometimes. Looking back, his gentle leading made me love him even more, even when I was angry with him.

 

[Saricharity]

6. When did you decide on marriage?
7. Who proposed and how?

Justin proposed to me
I was in a bad place. My dad and I were at odds...it's a long story but basically, my dad had forbidden me from doing something I was very passionate about and it ended very badly. My dad is old-fashioned and his ways of disciplining are just as old. I felt humiliated, defeated and alone. I didn't even want to share with Justin about it because I knew what he would say. He found me crying (having no idea that I was upset about anything and already had his plan in motion). I just blurted out everything. It was the first time I had ever seen Justin angry about anything. He grabbed my hand and we drove to my place where he proceeded to blast my dad out on how he had treated me. Looking back, I think my dad gained a whole new respect for Justin that day.
It didn't end too well that day between my dad and Justin however.
We left and Justin was angry. It was one of the first times, I had to calm him down. We prayed together and then he pulled a promise ring out of his pocket and handed it to me. He asked me to be his wife the day I turned 18. I said YES!
Of course, it wasn't what he planned at all and the next day he apologized on messing up his proposal.
I treasure the memory.

Years later, when I was 19, he proposed again. It was out on the water on a starry night canoe ride at our cottage. The engagement ring was just as beautiful as the promise ring. It was less eventful but just as memorable.

 

[PeachieKeen]

5. When did you first say I love you?

What people who don't know me well would never guess but the people who I know best all can see is that I have a deep sadness to me. As much as I smile and am vivacious and truly do love life and people, I've always struggled with an underlying depression and a feeling of inadequacy. As amazing as my family is, since I was very young I would cry in the middle of the night and when my parents would check on me I would angrily say "you don't love me, you couldn't love me." In my adult years, I suffered through the worst pain I've ever known and it really sent me far deeper in the belief i could never be loved nor wanted.

One perfect fall day Alex and I decided to explore central park. I made some travel mugs of pumpkin spice tea for us and we set off exploring. We had a wonderful time, talking and wandering, playing and being serious. After several hours we went to Tavern on the Green for a drink and a sit.

We got on the topic of relationships and I confessed I had always been a lonely girl and that I struggled with feeling unwanted. He said he couldn't imagine why i would feel that way. My heart sunk. I knew i had to tell him my secret and give him the chance to run.

I tearfully told him the pain of my heart. As the story concluded I turned my head down in shame and embarrassment. He caught my face in his hands. He was kneeled on the floor in front of me looking me square in the eyes.

"Traci, you ARE wanted. I LOVE you."

He said it so firm and so certain.. It caught me off guard. We had been dating only a month. I thought for sure he was going to run but there he was, staying. Loving me.

I regret the next part so much. I told him I had never said that before and that it scared me. I told him I cared for him, but needed to wait until I was sure to return those words. He said he understood and he wanted me to take my time.

That night i couldn't sleep. I was so mad at myself. I knew I loved him. Why did i freeze? Why couldn't I say it back? I texted him early the next morning and asked to meet. He agreed and said he would come to my apartment.

When he knocked I opened the door and immediately blurted out "I love you too." He said "you don't have to say that. I will wait for you." I insisted. He wrapped his arm around me and gave me the best hug.

 

[Saricharity]

We need an awww emoji.
Your husband sounds just wonderful. He was created as your "Adam".

 

[PeachieKeen]

When did you decide on marriage?

We had always talked about forever. Through our whole relationship we made offhand comments about our kids, when we are old, etc. It was always a faraway dreamy thing though.

Strangely, the thing that made it real was a terrible fight. There was something I was refusing to give on and I said I could never be happy in the relationship. After many exhaustive back and forths, we decided to break up.

We spent 2 months apart. In that time I tried to keep busy, to find myself, all that. I had surgery for a health problem. I began training for a marathon. I started a YouTube channel. Still nothing could keep me from thinking of him.

We tried the just friends thing and it was awful. We fought constantly because we always wanted to be together but at the same time it was too hard to be together but not actually be together. It began to hit me that my list didn't actually matter to me. Marriage is a symbol of Christ's love and commitment to the Church. He loves the Church not because we check all the boxes, not because we are easy to love, not because we do everything right... It's because real love is free.

I called Alex and he came over. I explained to him I didn't want to be without him ever again and that I'm sorry for ever making him feel he was not enough. He felt the same way and we got back together. I knew for sure at that point I was ready to commit to him forever and I was ready to get married. We discussed it then and there that we both were ready for marriage soon.

 

[Guy Incognito]

Y'all stories are *super* sweet, and its been awesome seeing how the Lord has worked in your relationships. I'll be sharing mine tomorrow, just wanted to give the kudos. Reading them made me smile and think of my wonderful wife, so thank you.

 

[PeachieKeen]

For the proposal I figured instead of writing about it I would share this. For our wedding website Alex and I separately recorded our telling of the story (without hearing one another) and combined them into this video.

 

[Saricharity]

That was a delightful story. You've inspired me to tell my canoe proposal story now. I didn't go into detail but maybe now I will haha

 

[Guy Incognito]

Mods - get on the "awwwwww" button. That video was adorable peachiekeen!

 

[Guy Incognito]

1. When/how did you meet your Spouse?
We met at church, when I was 15 and she was 11 when her father became the head pastor at the church.

2. When/how did you know you wanted to date?
Over the years we slowly grew closer and became friends, but there was a couple of times in the summer of 2009 and 10 when we worked at the church day camp together I caught myself crushing (and I'd see a facebook profile pic and would be like DANG SON!). It all came to a head in the summer of 2011 at the church day camp.
Now, a couple months earlier I had asked someone out (first time asking someone I hadn't known for ages I liked/had known for a while) casually - they said no. Well, at the day camp Jill was there and we were really hitting it off and I was crazy about her - and it was becoming obvious. To shorten this down, Jill found out - I asked her if she'd like to be more than friends - and she said she needed some time to think - about a week later, she said no (in nicer terms, and she later told me it was cause she was still praying about it and needed more time and didn't want to leave me hanging). I kid you not - about two hours after that the girl from months earlier texted saying she had changed her mind and wanted to know if I wanted to go on a date - I said I'd get back to her, needed to think. Over the next day I was praying about it big time, and what I was feeling was "Lord, I don't want to date anyone but Jill - but that's not happening, may you guide me to where you will have me - and if that's being single, may you help me take that joyously". So since I didn't want anyone but Jill, I told the months earlier girl it wasn't happening (much nicer than that though). I knew who I wanted to be with for the rest of my life.

3. Who initiated dating and how?
So I ended up going to a cousin in Englands wedding, and Jill was bummed. I called her before my flight took off, and we talked for an hour - I texted her when I landed, we chatted almost every night on facebook messenger - I called her from the wedding cause I missed her. We set up plans to hang out and go see a movie the day after I got back. We went to the movies, I walked her home - was upfront that I liked her, she knew she liked me - and asked her if we could become more than friends - she said she'd get back to me - not 30mins later, I got a text saying "yes", and I legit squealed on the bus.

 

[Guy Incognito]

4. When did you know you loved your Spouse?
I knew I loved her a few months before we got together (heck, when you realize you honestly don't want to be with another person but her, that puts things in perspective). And it was hammered home within our first few weeks - but of course, I wasn't gonna say it then.

5. When did you first say I love you?
About six months in, after a random dinner. Jill doesn't handle emotions well lol, so she hugged me and said thank you lol. The following week, she told me she loved me too after dinner at the same spot

6. When did you decide on marriage?
We loosely talked about it after a year, and we knew we wanted it to go that way.

7. Who proposed and how?
I proposed to her on our third year of dating anniversary. I had made plans to take her to a fancy restaurant in Niagara falls (which I was banking on, so I could take my backpack, cause the box the ring was in was huuuuge) - but she really wasn't feeling it that day, so we went to a local restaurant. I had to take my backpack, which was suspicious to her, and I was not subtle at all - she caught me looking at her ring finger and being oddly quiet. She kept asking if I was okay and if something was up, and I ran out of excuses. So I pulled out the ring, and asked her to marry me. Even though she figured it was coming, she was still super surprised. We got a desert afterwards, told random strangers when they saw us being giddy, and told our families later that night.

8. What was your wedding day like?
A great day - but a bit of a blur. I did breakfast and prayer with my groomsman party, and rocked out to Alexisonfire/Enrique Iglasias/Metallica/Wu-Tang/Matt Redman and worship music on the way to the venue. When I got there – the wife and I had our first look photo shoot (where we saw each other before walking down the isle) and I almost cried - she was so beautiful. After that, it was photo shoots with the wedding party and family. The ceremony was everything we could've ever dreamed it to be: the wedding party was some of our best friends, we were married by one of our best friends one of his first weddings as a pastor. It went off without a hitch. It was a very rustic wedding, the food included a mashed potato bar. Truth be told after we said 'I do' I don't remember much of the night. It was a sea of friends, family, dancing to awesome music, and hundreds of mini conversations. One thing I'm very happy we did was at some point my wife and I just went and sat with each other outside and enjoying some peace and quiet with each other while everybody else partied – not to be antisocial, but just to enjoy that moment with each other. It was a great night.

 

[PeachieKeen]

8. What was your wedding day like?

Our wedding day was magical. It was something straight from my dreams. I was a very DIY bride so i was a bit nervous how my vision and decor would all look together, but it turned out lovely.

We had signature his/hers drinks with cute little cartoons of us. We had the most beautiful buttercream cake covered in flowers and roughly iced (that's how my Nannie decorated so it was a subtle tribute). My dress was a lace Ball gown straight from my dreams. The bridesmaids were in different color dresses carrying a bouquet of their own favorite flower. The table settings were mismatched dishes and colorful cups. It was all so very us.

We spent the wedding soaking it in as much as we could- dancing, enjoying the company of everyone who came so far to see us, and trying to remember to breathe

It's already fading in my memory because it happened so fast and was such a blur. I can't wait to get our videos back and to live it again.